Please explain to me the draw of game modes like Arena, and Saxton Hale? Neither of them are very fun for me, and I find them a bit ridiculous. I don't mind Arena mode so much, but I find Saxton Hale to be nothing but a frantic search for a good place to camp with as many other players between myself and the SH as possible. My only complaint about Arena or Death Match is that, at least in my experience, I haven't played a game with a kill cap. Like "play to 25 kills" or something like that. I really appreciate the unique gameplay of Team Fortress 2 and I'm not asking for anyone to turn it into a different game, I just find it odd that I haven't encountered a more traditional death match mode.

P.S. Also, excuse the rambling, but what exactly is the appeal of Saxton Hale? I seriously find myself hugging the wall and firing rockets through crowds of team mates. I've played a few dozen matches with 0 success.

Arena mode, or Sudden Death, is arguably the mode with the most risk; once you die, you do not merely respawn and lose time returning to the front lines. Take, for example, the death of a Medic, who we'll assume has no Ubercharge, or has recently used his; in a regular game, barring a Medic on your own team, there is some value in killing an enemy Medic, as it denies their team of direct healing and sets back their Ubercharge.

In Arena? Killing the Medic is vital; the death of a class with significant healing abilities is a large step to victory, as the damage you deal is much more permanent to the enemy team. What Arena means is that the stakes are high, and every mistake is amplified; your death does not merely cost a Control Point you can recapture, it costs a player you can no longer expect to watch your back, to protect your team or to deal damage, which is the principal objective of the game.

As for Saxton Hell mode, I personally enjoy it; although I do play on servers that have more than one 'Saxton Hale', which means that the fight is a little more diversified. I believe many people find playing as the boss much more enjoyable, and there are methods to surviving him; I tend to play as Medic, since at the very least I can latch onto a Scout to escape, but that is purely due to mods set in place by the server. Saxton Hell is a different game type completely, and it can be fun if you treat it as it is; muck around, don't care about who wins and simply have fun. I don't believe it should be taken very seriously, similar to Pyro Dodgeball, Wario Ware or other custom game modes.

Arena mode, or Sudden Death, is arguably the mode with the most risk; once you die, you do not merely respawn and lose time returning to the front lines. Take, for example, the death of a Medic, who we'll assume has no Ubercharge, or has recently used his; in a regular game, barring a Medic on your own team, there is some value in killing an enemy Medic, as it denies their team of direct healing and sets back their Ubercharge.

In Arena? Killing the Medic is vital; the death of a class with significant healing abilities is a large step to victory, as the damage you deal is much more permanent to the enemy team. What Arena means is that the stakes are high, and every mistake is amplified; your death does not merely cost a Control Point you can recapture, it costs a player you can no longer expect to watch your back, to protect your team or to deal damage, which is the principal objective of the game.

As for Saxton Hell mode, I personally enjoy it; although I do play on servers that have more than one 'Saxton Hale', which means that the fight is a little more diversified. I believe many people find playing as the boss much more enjoyable, and there are methods to surviving him; I tend to play as Medic, since at the very least I can latch onto a Scout to escape, but that is purely due to mods set in place by the server. Saxton Hell is a different game type completely, and it can be fun if you treat it as it is; muck around, don't care about who wins and simply have fun. I don't believe it should be taken very seriously, similar to Pyro Dodgeball, Wario Ware or other custom game modes.

I've seen it referred to as Saxton Hell, Versus Saxton Hale and simply Saxton Hale Mode; I know his name is Saxton Hale, as you can see I did spell his name correctly, and Saxton Hell is only mentioned when making allusion to the game type. Sorry for the confusion; I'm really not sure if the mode has a definitive name, since I've heard of it by several names.

I've seen it referred to as Saxton Hell, Versus Saxton Hale and simply Saxton Hale Mode; I know his name is Saxton Hale, as you can see I did spell his name correctly, and Saxton Hell is only mentioned when making allusion to the game type. Sorry for the confusion; I'm really not sure if the mode has a definitive name, since I've heard of it by several names.

Well the maps are called vsh_, it says VSH when you enter the game mode, and I've never heard it go by "Saxton Hell" before.

I've heard of Saxton Hell servers, but not Saxton Hell as a reference to the game mode :P

My apologies then; perhaps that's where my confusion stems from, as I've really only played a modded version of the actual Versus Saxton Hale game mode, and I've never really payed attention to what the server says before entering the game mode. I've generally joined when they happen to be running a map such as arena_nucleus, and so I've never really payed attention to the other map names; I'll make note of the actual name this time, thank you.

Arena- For players that enjoy the non-respawn gameplay from Counter-Strike

Vs Saxton Hale (VHS)- For players who enjoy boss fights like what happens during Halloween.

CTF- For players that like sneaky and fast play (assuming both teams actually try), also appeals to people who enjoy just fragging.

Territory Control (TC) - For people who like Hydro, and of course Tactical point capping.

A/D- For those who like deffensive play and breaking through said defence.

5 Point CP - For players who like fast, very active, and usually higher levels of play, commonly used for Competitive TF2.

SD - Territory control mixed with KOTH.

KOTH - Generally for people that enjoy frag fests. Tends to appeal to those who want to simply lay back and goof off.

Prop Hunt - Hide and Seek: TF2 eddition

Trade Servers - Self Explanitory

MGE - For people who enjoy 1v1 dueling

Wowfortress (think thats the name) - for people who like a sort of MOBA feel to TF2, level ups, upgrades, junk like that.

Most of the other mods I can think of atm are simply reskin force stuff like that old Ponywarz mod or well...perk servers

That's cool and everything, but I still sort of wish there was like a "Death Fortress" mode to channel the free for all death match modes of Quake and other mindless games that came before.

Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if someone modded a Quake style mode for TF2? Start with some generic class and run around the map looking for weapons?

Of course thats not really what I'm asking, more like two teams with a collective kill goal of like 100 or as many kills as you can get in 20 minutes.

P.S. not to be too much of a whiner or anything but I guess I forgot to include ZOMBIE FORTRESS!!!! Which is a mode that I do love, which is probably why I didn't mention it. If anyone hasn't tried it, well... they should. You start off with everyone on the same team, and then a random person is picked to be the zombie. A single hit from the zombie will infect a player who then becomes a zombie. Once you become a zombie you cannot go back to the uninfected team until the game restarts. So I guess thats the one game mode in the YOLO category that I have really enjoyed. It is super fun to play on either team and it is extremely tense because you never know when a zombie will break through your defenses and infect half of your team.

Arena- For players that enjoy the non-respawn gameplay from Counter-Strike

Vs Saxton Hale (VHS)- For players who enjoy boss fights like what happens during Halloween.

CTF- For players that like sneaky and fast play (assuming both teams actually try), also appeals to people who enjoy just fragging.

Territory Control (TC) - For people who like Hydro, and of course Tactical point capping.

A/D- For those who like deffensive play and breaking through said defence.

5 Point CP - For players who like fast, very active, and usually higher levels of play, commonly used for Competitive TF2.

SD - Territory control mixed with KOTH.

KOTH - Generally for people that enjoy frag fests. Tends to appeal to those who want to simply lay back and goof off.

Prop Hunt - Hide and Seek: TF2 eddition

Trade Servers - Self Explanitory

MGE - For people who enjoy 1v1 dueling

Wowfortress (think thats the name) - for people who like a sort of MOBA feel to TF2, level ups, upgrades, junk like that.

Most of the other mods I can think of atm are simply reskin force stuff like that old Ponywarz mod or well...perk servers

That's cool and everything, but I still sort of wish there was like a "Death Fortress" mode to channel the free for all death match modes of Quake and other mindless games that came before.

Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if someone modded a Quake style mode for TF2? Start with some generic class and run around the map looking for weapons?

Of course thats not really what I'm asking, more like two teams with a collective kill goal of like 100 or as many kills as you can get in 20 minutes.

P.S. not to be too much of a whiner or anything but I guess I forgot to include ZOMBIE FORTRESS!!!! Which is a mode that I do love, which is probably why I didn't mention it. If anyone hasn't tried it, well... they should. You start off with everyone on the same team, and then a random person is picked to be the zombie. A single hit from the zombie will infect a player who then becomes a zombie. Once you become a zombie you cannot go back to the uninfected team until the game restarts. So I guess thats the one game mode in the YOLO category that I have really enjoyed. It is super fun to play on either team and it is extremely tense because you never know when a zombie will break through your defenses and infect half of your team.

Remove yourself from this world,STOP SAYING YOLO COME ON ITS ANNOYING AS SWAG.

I feel it's important to mention there are (as far as I have seen) 3 different zombie mods. Zombie Fortress, Bsun zombies (that was also taken by Intox gaming), and Super Zombie Fortress. All of them are different but follow the basic rules of survive as human or become zombie and wait for next round to be human again while trying to kill humans.

Arena- For players that enjoy the non-respawn gameplay from Counter-Strike

Vs Saxton Hale (VHS)- For players who enjoy boss fights like what happens during Halloween.

CTF- For players that like sneaky and fast play (assuming both teams actually try), also appeals to people who enjoy just fragging.

Territory Control (TC) - For people who like Hydro, and of course Tactical point capping.

A/D- For those who like deffensive play and breaking through said defence.

5 Point CP - For players who like fast, very active, and usually higher levels of play, commonly used for Competitive TF2.

SD - Territory control mixed with KOTH.

KOTH - Generally for people that enjoy frag fests. Tends to appeal to those who want to simply lay back and goof off.

Prop Hunt - Hide and Seek: TF2 eddition

Trade Servers - Self Explanitory

MGE - For people who enjoy 1v1 dueling

Wowfortress (think thats the name) - for people who like a sort of MOBA feel to TF2, level ups, upgrades, junk like that.

Most of the other mods I can think of atm are simply reskin force stuff like that old Ponywarz mod or well...perk servers

That's cool and everything, but I still sort of wish there was like a "Death Fortress" mode to channel the free for all death match modes of Quake and other mindless games that came before.

Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if someone modded a Quake style mode for TF2? Start with some generic class and run around the map looking for weapons?

Of course thats not really what I'm asking, more like two teams with a collective kill goal of like 100 or as many kills as you can get in 20 minutes.

P.S. not to be too much of a whiner or anything but I guess I forgot to include ZOMBIE FORTRESS!!!! Which is a mode that I do love, which is probably why I didn't mention it. If anyone hasn't tried it, well... they should. You start off with everyone on the same team, and then a random person is picked to be the zombie. A single hit from the zombie will infect a player who then becomes a zombie. Once you become a zombie you cannot go back to the uninfected team until the game restarts. So I guess thats the one game mode in the YOLO category that I have really enjoyed. It is super fun to play on either team and it is extremely tense because you never know when a zombie will break through your defenses and infect half of your team.

Remove yourself from this world,STOP SAYING YOLO COME ON ITS ANNOYING AS SWAG.

BUT IT IS USEFUL AND LITERAL IN THIS INSTANCE WHERE IN THE GAME YOUR CHARACTER ONLY LIVES ONCE. HENCE IT IS A NICE BLANKET term for game where you only get one chance to spawn and do damage and avoid being killed. Hence, Youl Only Live Once.